Notes: Here is the last part of this story arc. It might be a little bit before I start posting Day of the Doctor, only because I want to have it completely finished (just in case details need to be adjusted as I get through it). I already have a good chunk of it done, but I'm about to go in a completely different direction than the original episode did and I have no idea where the characters are going to drag me off of my plan.
"Why did you open the door, madam? I had them on the run," Strax complained as their attackers backed away.
"Rose, are you alright, love?" the Doctor asked, grasping her upper arms as he looked into her eyes. They had changed back to brown from the golden light and she seemed a bit disoriented.
"What did I do?" she asked.
"You opened the TARDIS door, mum. We're all ok," James assured her.
"I hate that I can't control it," Rose growled.
"I know. I'm sorry. But she has to know something that we don't right now," the Doctor assured her. "Now then, Doctor Simeon, or Mister G Intelligence, whatever I call you, do you know what's in there?"
"For me, peace at last. For you, pain everlasting. Won't you invite us in?" he replied.
Everyone entered the console room. It looked just like their current TARDIS except that there were plants growing from the corners and cracks, falling down around the room. In the center, rather than the familiar time rotor, there was a bluish white, glowing column of energy.
"What's that?" Clara asked, in awe.
"What were you expecting, a body? Bodies are boring. I've had loads of them. Nah, that's not what my tomb is for," the Doctor answered, holding tightly to his wife's hand. He didn't see any signs that she had died here with him.
"But what is the light?" Vastra wondered.
"It's beautiful," Jenny added.
"Should I destroy it?" Strax questioned.
"Shut up, Strax," Vastra snapped at him.
"Granddad, explain. What is that?" Clara insisted.
"The tracks of my tears," he sighed.
"Less poetry, Doctor. Just tell them," the Great Intelligence demanded.
"Time travel is damage. It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space from Gallifrey to Trenzalore," he admitted. Pointing his sonic at the sparking light, he activated it and they could hear overlapping voices from his many lives. "Even the ones that I, er, even the ones that I haven't lived yet."
He wobbled a bit and leaned against Rose for support.
"Doctor! What is it? Why do I feel so strange?" Rose asked before they both collapsed on the floor.
"Dad!" Jamie yelled and ran to their side. "Where's mum's? If that light is you, then where is mum?"
"I don't- we shouldn't be here. The paradoxes. It's very bad," he told them with some difficulty. Doctor Simeon started walking toward the light with purpose. "No. No. No. What are you doing? Somebody stop him!" the Doctor shouted.
"The Doctor's life is a open wound. And an open wound can be entered," he told them, revealing his plan.
"No, it would destroy you," the Doctor argued.
"Not at all. It will kill me. It will destroy you. I can rewrite your every living moment. I can turn every one of you victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath," he explained.
"It will burn you up. Once you go through, you can't come back. You will be scattered along my timeline like confetti," the Doctor insisted.
"It matters not, Doctor. You thwarted me at every turn. Now you will give me peace, as I take my revenge on every second of your life. Goodbye. Goodbye, Doctor," Simeon announced and stepped even closer to the light, but was suddenly stopped by an energy field of golden light.
Rose screamed in pain as the light flashed and sparked. "No! I won't let you hurt him!"
"Mum! What's going on?" Jamie cried.
"She's here too," the Doctor gasped, tears glistening in his eyes as he looked at the golden light shielding his own.
"I will always protect my Doctor, even in death," Rose whispered, her eyes glowing once more, the light trailing from her to the energy field and back again.
Doctor Simeon was writhing in agony as the golden light surrounded him and sparked dangerously. "This isn't right! It isn't supposed to end like this," he shouted before he and all of his creatures disintegrated into golden dust.
The Doctor gasped and opened his eyes as the threat against him was destroyed, but Rose was lying still, and silent on the floor. He reached over to touch her face, needing to make sure that she was alright.
"Is she alright, granddad?" Clara asked hopefully.
"She'll be fine, but we need to get her back to our TARDIS. Being here is hurting the both of us," he responded. He tried to lift Rose off of the ground but could barely stand up properly himself.
River moved to help the Doctor up, while Jamie picked up his mother to carry her home. They walked slowly as the Doctor leaned against his daughter in law.
"Dad, if touching your timestream would have scattered him across your life, why didn't that happen to mum? It was her life force that was surrounding yours, right?" Jamie asked.
"I don't know. We've never completely understood the Bad Wolf and the power that she possesses. Your mother did something no one has ever done and survived before. She took the entire time vortex into her mind and connected to it in a way that we, for the moment, have no control over. I am eternally grateful that it has given us the forever that we wanted so badly, but we may never really understand it," he responded.
As they entered the TARDIS, Rose began to wake up and the Doctor was strong enough to walk on his own. Jamie sat his mother on the nearest seat, her husband immediately taking a place next to her.
"Doctor? Jamie?" she mumbled as she took in her surroundings. "What happened? Are we safe?"
"Everyone is perfectly safe, my love. You saved me again, or will save me as the case may be," the Doctor told her.
"That was confusing. You can explain later, just hold me right now," she grumbled as she curled herself into his chest.
"Forever. Jamie, let's take our friends home, yeah?" the Doctor replied.
James, River, and Clara worked together to pilot the ship back to Vastra's house, where their own TARDIS was waiting.
"Is it gone now? The Great Intelligence?" Jenny wondered.
"Yes," Rose answered confidently. "Wait, why do I know that?"
"The Bad Wolf destroyed him completely. We won't have to worry about him again," the Doctor insisted.
"But the Daleks-" Rose began, the Doctor stopping her with a finger over her lips.
"You were sure, Rose. Just now, you knew the Great Intelligence was gone. Trust that knowledge. Rest now," he insisted, holding her head against his chest.
When they arrived back in Victorian London, Vastra, Strax, and Jenny returned home. James and River went back to their TARDIS and Clara decided to stay with her grandparents after saying goodbye. She went to her room for some rest, as did the Doctor and Rose, once they were floating safely in the vortex.
Snuggled together for the night, the Doctor sighed contentedly, "You were there."
"Yeah?"
"Yes, we were together in death and you protected me. If that's the case, then we don't need to be afraid of it. Not that I'm planning on us dying any time soon, but as long as we're together, it's not so bad," he told her.
"I'm still scared of the Bad Wolf. I don't like that I can't control it or even remember what happened while she was helping. But I'm glad that she was here today," Rose admitted.
"Me too."
